CN106395529B

CN106395529B - Monitoring system, elevator system having a monitoring system, and method

Info

Publication number: CN106395529B
Application number: CN201610597098.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: R.E.库拉克; M.J.特雷西
Original assignee: Otis Elevator Co
Current assignee: Otis Elevator Co
Priority date: 2015-07-27
Filing date: 2016-07-26
Publication date: 2020-01-31
Anticipated expiration: 2036-07-26
Also published as: CN106395529A; EP3127853B1; US20200148508A1; US20170029246A1; US11661315B2; US10569994B2; EP3127853A1

Abstract

A sill gap monitoring system includes a sensor assembly configured to sense sill gap between an elevator sill and at least of the bottom surfaces of an elevator and a bottom surface of a gib the sill gap monitoring system generates a warning when the sill gap is greater than a sill gap limit.

Description

Monitoring system, elevator system having a monitoring system, and method

Background

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to elevators , and more particularly to monitoring assemblies for use with elevators .

Elevator systems are well known and widely used a typical elevator system includes an elevator car that moves within a hoistway between floor landings in a building, for example to transport passengers, cargo, or both between building floors, typically, the hoistway entrance includes at least floor landings 0 suspended on sets of rollers that roll along tracks near the top of the hoistway entrance the car also has at least 1 when the car is at a floor landing, an actuator supported on the car moves the car and moves the floor landings between open and closed positions the bottom of each elevator includes a gib that is received into a guide slot in an sill near the bottom of when the elevator moves, the gib follows the guide slot, the gib and guide slot also cooperate to hold vertical.

The hoistway is inaccessible to passengers and cargo when the floor platforms of a particular floor platform are closed, thus blocking passengers and cargo and other passersby from entering the hoistway when the car is not at that particular floor platform in this closed position the gibs must remain within the guide slots so that if a floor platform is hit by cargo, passengers or passersby, the floor platform does not swing into the hoistway.

Disclosure of Invention

sill gap monitoring systems may be operably attached adjacent to the bottom surface of elevator .

The sensor assembly may be operatively attached to the sill or operatively attached to the bottom surface of the gib.

The sensor assembly may include a non-contact sensor that includes of acoustic, optical, and magnetic detections to sense threshold gap.

The sensor assembly may include a sensor configured to make physical contact between threshold and and at least of the gibs.

The sensor may be a microswitch having a roller that is operably engaged with the threshold during movement of from the open position to the closed position.

The sensor assembly may include a plunger movable toward the threshold within the plunger housing, the plunger may be connected to an actuator that moves in a direction to move the plunger toward the threshold when is in the closed position, and moves in a second direction opposite the direction to move the plunger away from the threshold when is in the open position.

When the threshold clearance limit is exceeded, the plunger head of the plunger may contact the plunger housing and the circuitry within the sensor assembly may close and send a signal to generate a warning when the threshold clearance limit is not exceeded, the plunger head may not contact the plunger housing and the circuitry may open.

An elevator system may include an elevator movable from an open position to a closed position, the elevator 0 having a bottom surface, a gib fixed to elevator 1 adjacent the bottom surface, a 2 sill having a guide slot and a face, the gib slidable within the guide slot, the face facing the bottom surface of elevator 3 in the closed position, and a sill gap monitoring system including a sensor assembly configured to sense a gap between sill and at least of the elevator and the bottom surface of the gib, a warning generated by the sill gap monitoring system when the sill gap is greater than the sill gap limit.

The elevator may be a floor landing at the entrance to the hoistway.

At least portions of the sensor assembly may be operably attached to sill alternatively, at least portions of the sensor assembly may be attached to the elevator and movable with the elevator .

During the movement of between the open and closed positions, the sensor assembly may continuously sense sill gap along the length of sill.

The sensor assembly may include a microswitch having a roller that is operably engaged with the threshold during movement of from the open position to the closed position.

The sensor assembly can be activated to sense threshold clearance when is in the closed position and deactivated when is in the open position.

The sensor assembly may include a plunger movable toward the threshold within a plunger housing, wherein a plunger head of the plunger may contact the plunger housing and circuitry within the sensor assembly may close and send a signal to generate a warning when the threshold clearance limit is exceeded, the plunger head may not contact the plunger housing and the circuitry is open when the threshold clearance limit is not exceeded.

A method of monitoring the sill gap of an elevator includes selecting a sill gap limit between sills and at least of the gibs and bottom surface of elevator , configuring a sensor to monitor sill gap, sending a signal from the sensor when the sill gap exceeds the sill gap limit, arranging a controller to receive the signal from the sensor, and generating a warning when the sill gap limit has been exceeded.

Drawings

The subject matter which is regarded as the disclosure is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The above and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of an elevator system having a clearance monitoring system;

fig. 2 shows a partial side cross-sectional view of an elevator system;

fig. 3 shows a diagrammatic view of embodiments of portions of a clearance monitoring system for the elevator system of fig. 1;

fig. 4 shows a diagrammatic view of another embodiment of portions of the clearance monitoring system when the elevator is open or opening;

FIG. 5 shows an enlarged view of a sensor assembly for use in the clearance monitoring system of FIG. 4;

fig. 6 shows a diagrammatic view of an embodiment of the clearance monitoring system of fig. 4 when the elevator is closed;

FIG. 7 shows an enlarged view of the sensor assembly of FIG. 5 when the gap is not exceeded;

FIG. 8 shows an enlarged view of the sensor assembly of FIG. 5 when the gap is exceeded;

figure 9 shows a diagrammatic view of another embodiments of portions of a clearance monitoring assembly for the elevator system of figure 1,

fig. 10 shows a diagrammatic view of another embodiments of portions of a clearance monitoring assembly for the elevator system of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 shows selected portions of an embodiment of an elevator assembly 8 including a car 9 that moves within a hoistway 10 between building floors or landing levels 11( shown) the car 9 and hoistway entrance 12 each include an elevator 3 system 18 with elevators (more specifically a car 020 and landing 122) that moves in the direction of elevator movement D between an open position and a closed position that moves in the direction of elevator movement D although a double is shown on the car 9, or 4 of the car 9 and hoistway entrance 12 may include singles each elevator assemblies 18 each include or multiple clips 14, referred to below as "clips" that are fixedly coupled to each of the elevators . the clips 14 are within on the car 9 and are guided at the hoistway entrance 12.

As shown in fig. 2 by the step , sill 15 includes a slot or guide groove 24 having a depth 42 to slidably receive gib 14, with gib 14 in the guide groove 24 of sill 15, elevator 113 is guided in the direction of movement D (fig. 1) to control movement of elevator 313 and maintain elevator 413 perpendicular so that lower portion 26 of each near sill 15 does not move significantly in a direction transverse to the direction of movement D, as shown in fig. 2, movement in direction T is substantially limited by receiving gib 14 in guide groove 24, field adjustment enables proper engagement of gib 14 within sill 15 and with respect to any relevant regulations, although gib 14 is shown with an L-shaped attachment portion 28, a reinforcing beam 30 (by way of example only including metal) and a slide 32 for friction reduction (by way of example only including nylon), gib 14 may be of any shape and be made of any suitable material for attachment to the guide rail 8513, and may be made of any suitable material for mounting between the gib and guide groove 8513, although other materials may be made of the gib 14 in addition to be made of any suitable material for mounting in guide groove 8513, and securing the gib 14.

is installed or adjusted so that the bottom surface 34 of 6313 is within of the face 38 of the sill 15 at a distance so that an installer or maintenance personnel will know that the gib 14 is properly seated within the guide slot 24. the small gap between the bottom surface 34 of 113 and the face 38 of 2 sill 15 will be referred to hereinafter as gap 36. although 4 the face 38 of sill 15 is shown as substantially planar, it should be understood that sill 15 may be slotted such as for towing purposes it has been determined that over time the 8 gap 36 between the bottom surface 34 of elevator 42 613 and the face 38 of sill 15 may change due to high 9 sill loads (such as by repeatedly moving weights on sill 15), impacts, adjustments or roller adjustments on the track at the top of or erroneous installation if 593 gap 36 becomes too large and the maximum sill surface or the potential for the floor pan 14 to be within the ground of the guide rail 14, especially if the bottom surface 34 of the sill 14 is within the guide slot 14, the ground contact groove 14, the floor 14 is not fully seated under the ground contact groove 14.

Thus, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, a clearance monitoring system 44 (fig. 1) is included in an elevator system 18 for monitoring, sensing and/or measuring or both of the gap 36 and the gib gap 112. because the guide slot 24 is within the 0 cage 15, the 1 gap 36 and the gib gap 112 are collectively referred to herein as the cage gap 114. it is further noted that the 4 cage 15 may be an integral unit or may include separate portions for the guide slot 24 and the face 38, and thus the 6 cage refers to any portion below the respective 36713 and gib 14. the clearance monitoring system 44 includes sensor assemblies 46 mounted at or all of the cages 14 and in the landing 36822, gib 14 and cage 15 to detect whether the gap 36 and/or gib gap 112 exceed the clearance limit or if the gap 112 is located on the same side of the cage 72 or the cage 13 as described above the elevator 72 or is connected to the elevator cab 14 or at least the may be located on the same side of the elevator door or the elevator door 14 if the elevator door is connected to the elevator door 14 or the elevator door or door.

Referring again to fig. 1, the clearance monitoring system 44 may also include a controller 48 that receives a signal from the sensor assembly 46 indicating that the clearance limit has been reached or exceeded, the controller 48 may process the signal and determine any subsequent steps, such subsequent steps may include generating and sending a notification or warning, the warning shown diagrammatically at 50 may be sent to field personnel (such as field maintenance ) or departtherefrom (such as to a financial manager or remote elevator monitoring company) for maintenance adjustment of the affected 13, maintenance of the sill 15, maintenance of the gib 14, or coordination of maintenance of any portion of the elevator system 18. alternatively or additionally, the warning 50 may be local, such as shown at area 52, and may take the form of an optical, electronic display, or audible device such as a buzzer, the signal from the sensor assembly 46 has reached or exceeded clearance limits once the signal from the sensor assembly 46 has reached or exceeded, a local sill warning 50 may be triggered, or the local warning 50 may be triggered by the controller 48. the controller 48 may also store the signal in memory of the subsequent sill 48 for each floor clearance condition 3922 and review of the floor clearance condition .

Fig. 3 shows embodiments of portions of clearance monitoring system 44, 013 such as landing 22 includes at least 1 gib 14 (two depicted for illustrative purposes), the at least 5 gibs 14 are fixedly attached 213 for sliding movement in direction D within 4 sill 15 during closing and opening of 313. sensor assembly 54 of clearance monitoring system 44 also is fixedly attached 513 such that sensor assembly 54 moves in direction D with 713 during opening and closing of 613. sensor assembly 54 may include contact sensor 56 such as microswitch 58, the microswitch 58 having body 60, roller 62 aligned with or adjacent to bottom surface 34 of 813, and switch arm 64 connecting roller 62 to body 60. roller 62 contacts sill 15 during opening and closing of 913, and thus switch arm 64 closes or opens movement of microswitch 58 and distance (2 gap 36) between 0 sill 15 and bottom surface 34 of 113 when 3 clearance 36 has reached or exceeded 4 sill limit, and thus when the sensor assembly 54 has reached or exceeded the clearance limit signal limit of 4, the clearance monitoring system 54 is depicted as being operably mounted in a clearance monitoring system 36 or is mounted in a clearance monitoring system 15, a clearance monitoring system 36 is shown as being movable along a clearance monitoring system 36, a clearance monitoring system 36 may be alternatively depicted as being movable in a clearance monitoring system 14, a clearance monitoring system 14 may be mounted in which is shown, a clearance monitoring system 14 may be mounted in a clearance monitoring system 15, a clearance monitoring system 14 may be mounted to be mounted in which may be moved in a clearance monitoring system 15, a clearance monitoring system 34, a clearance monitoring system 34, a clearance monitoring system, 6, a clearance monitoring system, 15, a clearance monitoring system, a clearance monitoring.

4-8 illustrate another embodiment of a portion of clearance monitoring system 44 although not shown, as in previous embodiments, one or more clamp bars 14 slide within guide slots 24 in cage 15 of 0. roller assembly 66 for moving in direction D parallel to guide slots 24 is shown adjacent upper portion 68 of . sensor assembly 70 is attached to lower portion 26 of 36313 and only senses threshold clearance 114 when 613 is closed (FIG. 6) because is not required to know 2 clearance 36 when is open (FIG. 4) because is only open when car 9 is at landing 11 (more specifically landing ) is only open when sensor assembly 70 is shown and described with respect to sensing clearance 36 is shown and described with respect to sensing gap 36 being open, it should be understood that sensor assembly 70 may be alternatively incorporated within a clamp bar 14 to sense a clamp bar clearance 112 to show an open position of even though sensor assembly 70 is shown and described with sensing being shown and described with sensing a gap 36 being in a stationary , a gap-14, or a stationary door or a door or door-to a door-door.

Although the lever 74 shown in fig. 4 and 6 may be a separate element used in a retrofit threshold clearance monitoring system 44, the linkage 76 may alternatively be attached to an existing component of the elevator assembly 18, such as, but not limited to, a floor-side interlock that couples a floor platform 022 to the car 120 or another 2 mechanisms, again, while mechanical actuation of the sensor assembly 70 has been described, the sensor assembly 70 may alternatively be electrically or magnetically actuatable, such as, for example, initiating movement of the plunger 78 within the plunger housing 80 as 13 passes over a certain location along the threshold 15, such as near the gib 14, hi addition, although specific embodiments of the sensor actuator 72 may include the lever 74 and linkage 76 as shown, other sensor actuators including mechanical or electrical/magnetic actuators configured to actuate the sensor assembly 70 may also be incorporated into at least of the 13, gib 14, and thresholds 15.

Other embodiments of the portion of the gap monitoring assembly 44 are illustrated by fig. 9 although previous embodiments are based on contact-type sensor assemblies 54, 70 to determine whether the gap 36 (or gib gap 112) has exceeded the threshold gap limit, fig. 9 illustrates embodiments that rely on a non-contact sensor assembly 98 the sensor assembly 98 may include, for example, a sensor 104, such as an ultrasonic sensor, at 0, 15 (or alternatively on 113), the sensor 104 propagating sound waves along 313 to position 100 (or to position 106 on cage 15) when is in the closed position the sensor assembly 100 (or position 106) may include a receiver 102, or alternatively the sensor 104 may include both a transducer and a receiver with reference to fig. 10, the sensor assembly 108 including sensor 104 and receiver 102 may also be positioned on gib 14 and guide channel 24 with reference to fig. 10, the sensor assembly 108 including sensor 104 and receiver 102 may be positioned on the gib 14 and guide channel 24 with a light sensor 104 or a sensor 104 may be positioned on a bottom portion of a triangular sensor assembly 104, a triangular sensor assembly 54, a sensor 104 or a sensor assembly 34 may be positioned as a light sensor 104 or a sensor assembly that may be positioned from a triangular sensor 104 or a sensor assembly 14 that may be positioned at a triangular sensor 14 or a triangular sensor 14 that may be positioned at a distance measuring angle 94 that may be measured from a triangular sensor 14 or a triangular sensor 14 that may be measured with a triangular sensor 14 or a triangular sensor 14 that may be positioned at a triangular gap 34 that may be positioned at a triangular sensor 14 or a triangular sensor 14 that may be positioned at a triangular gap 34 that may be positioned at a triangular sensor 14 or a distance measured with a triangular sensor 14 or a triangular sensor 14 that may be positioned at a triangular sensor 14 or a triangular sensor 14 that may be positioned at a distance 94 that may be positioned at a triangular gap 34 that may be used to a distance measured with a triangular gap 34 that may be measured with a triangular gap 95 that may be measured with a distance measured with a triangular gap 34 that may be measured with a bottom portion of a triangular gap 34 that may be measured with a.

FIG. 10 further illustrates embodiments where multiple sensor assemblies are used in the threshold clearance monitoring system 44, which may be the same type of sensor assembly or different types of sensor assemblies.

By using an embodiment of the sill gap monitoring system 44 described herein, at least sill gaps 114, including at least of gap 36 and gib gap 112, are routinely and automatically monitored and a warning 50 is sent when the 1 sill gap limit is reached or exceeded sill gap monitoring system assembly 44 may automatically check sill gap 114 on every cycle, eliminating the possibility of human supervision by a mechanic or inspector, and may be able to detect 5 gap 114 any deviation over time, 3684 sill gap monitoring system assembly 44 may automatically check 854 sill gap 114 between routine maintenance checks of sill gap 114 by human power, sill gap 114 monitoring may thus occur many times, including hundreds or even thousands of times, electrical monitoring may be used to issue maintenance command signals that may prevent sill 14 and sill 15 from escaping guide slots 24 by appropriate subsequent maintenance precautions, the use of sill gap monitoring system 44 to monitor sill gap 24 including may include a sensor set up when sill gap limit sensor assembly , 596 48 may be set up to monitor gap limit when the sill gap 114, or clearance limit is reached.

In addition, while various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, it should be understood that aspects of the present disclosure may include only of the described embodiments.

Claims

1, a threshold clearance monitoring system, comprising:

a sensor assembly configured to sense a sill gap between the sill of elevator and at least of a bottom surface of elevator and a bottom surface of the gib;

wherein the sill gap monitoring system generates a warning when the sill gap is greater than the sill gap limit.

2. The threshold gap monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly is operably attached adjacent to a bottom surface of the elevator .

3. The threshold clearance monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly is operatively attached to the threshold.

4. The threshold gap monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly is operatively attached to a bottom surface of the gib.

5. The threshold gap monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly includes a non-contact sensor to sense the threshold gap.

6. The sill gap monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly includes a sensor configured to make physical contact between the sill and at least of the and the gib.

7. The sill gap monitoring system of claim 6 wherein the sensor is a micro switch having a roller that operably engages the sill during movement of the from an open position to a closed position.

8. The threshold clearance monitoring system of claim 6, wherein the sensor assembly includes a plunger movable within a plunger housing toward the threshold.

9. The threshold clearance monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the plunger is connected to an actuator that moves in a direction to move the plunger toward the threshold when the is in a closed position, and the actuator moves in a second direction opposite the direction to move the plunger away from the threshold when the is in an open position.

10. The threshold clearance monitoring system of claim 8, wherein when the threshold clearance limit is exceeded, a plunger head of the plunger contacts the plunger housing and a circuit within the sensor assembly is closed and signaled to generate the warning, and wherein when the threshold clearance limit is not exceeded, the plunger head does not contact the plunger housing and the circuit is open.

11, an elevator system, comprising:

an elevator movable from an open position to a closed position, the elevator having a bottom surface;

a gib secured to the elevator adjacent the bottom surface;

sill having a guide slot within which the gib is slidable and a face that faces the bottom surface of the lift in the closed position,

sill gap monitoring system including a sensor assembly configured to sense sill gaps between the sill and at least of the elevator and the bottom surface of the gib;

wherein a warning is generated by the sill gap monitoring system when the sill gap is greater than the sill gap limit.

12. The elevator system of claim 11, wherein the elevator is a floor landing at a hoistway entrance.

13. The elevator system of claim 11, wherein at least portion of the sensor assembly is operably attached to the sill.

14. The elevator system of claim 11, wherein at least portion of the sensor assembly is attached to the elevator and is movable with the elevator .

15. The elevator system of claim 14, wherein the sensor assembly senses the sill gap continuously along a length of the sill during movement of the between the open and closed positions.

16. The elevator system of claim 15, wherein the sensor assembly includes a micro-switch having a roller that operably engages the sill during movement of the from an open position to a closed position.

17. The elevator system of claim 11, wherein the sensor assembly is activated to sense the threshold gap when the is in the closed position and deactivated when the is in the open position.

18. The elevator system of claim 11, wherein the sensor assembly includes a non-contact sensor to sense the threshold gap.

19. The elevator system of claim 11, wherein the sensor assembly includes a plunger that is movable within a plunger housing toward the threshold, wherein when the threshold clearance limit is exceeded, a plunger head of the plunger contacts the plunger housing and a circuit within the sensor assembly is closed and sends a signal to generate the warning, and wherein when the threshold clearance limit is not exceeded, the plunger head does not contact the plunger housing and the circuit is open.

20, a method of monitoring sill clearance of an elevator , the method comprising:

selecting a sill gap limit of sills to at least of the gibs and bottom surface of the elevator ;

configuring a sensor to monitor the threshold gap;

sending a signal from the sensor when the threshold gap exceeds the threshold gap limit;

arranging a controller to receive the signal from the sensor; and the number of the first and second groups,

generating a warning when the threshold clearance limit has been exceeded.